Motivation

Common questions

How can I better motivate myself?

How can I motivate others?

1. How can I better motivate myself?

The answer really falls into two areas, short-term and long-term motivation.

For something to pick you up in the moment, the quickest route is via using your body and mind differently,
triggering a change in how you feel. This could be some exercise, such as a brisk walk around the block or
simply standing up, stretching and taking a few deep breaths. Use your mind to visualise something good,
such as the task completely finished as opposed to the drudgery of doing it. Notice what you are saying to
yourself in your mind, and make sure these comments are supportive.

For the longer haul, you need to make sure that you have a big goal or purpose that is drawing you forward.
Unless you have this, any motivation in the moment will be short lived.

2. How can I motivate others?

The key thing to remember here is that motivation is an inside job. People motivate themselves as a result of
who they are, the situation they are in and how they perceive that situation. All you can do is provide an
environment and circumstances that will be more likely to trigger motivation within people.

In order to find out what to do, you will need to delve a little deeper into this topic, as there is no
simple answer to the question of how to motivate others, primarily because people are so different.

It is also important to realise that what you are seeking to do when motivating employees is to provide a
situation where they have a higher desire to do what is useful to you than engage in some other activity
that is not useful to you.